Seeing Doubles: West Salem High School

- Players get their last drinks of water before they finally get to go home for the day and rest their aching bodies. Thanks for tuning in, and I promise a recap and some photos will be coming here shortly...

- The players huddle around their coach for a final word, and they'll jog off the field to end practice.

- A nice long pass from Hire drops into the receivers hands on a perfectly executed play. My goodness, i think that's the best run play we've seen so far on the blog tour! If WS can do that on a regular basis this season, they should be pretty tough to handle through the air.

- Coach Stanley takes another long break to discuss what he wants from his players on the play.

- The varsity has been executing very well, but I'm not so sure if that's because there's some players out there that play on both sides of the ball. A JV player makes a tough tackle for a at the line of scrimmage, and the coach is LOVING it. He hoots and hollers praises and that gets the team motivated... now it looks like each player is out there trying that much harder to win their own shouts of praise.

- The practice winds down with offense vs. defense for both JV and varsity.

2:00

- Now coach Stanley is really wanting some communication out of his secondary. He has the assistants focus the DB's on back-pedaling while keeping their eye on the direction of the play. As they switch up the offensive plays between run and pass, the DB's are required to identify the play by yelling "pass" or "run" for each attempt.

1:51

- The varsity defense puts on some yellow caps, and they're gonna work on some coverage.

- The coaches are really getting on their players to get aggressive. After each play, the coaches find something wrong, and after letting the player hear it, they get right back into form and run it with a little more grit each time.

- The team has broken into smaller groups once again.... As the JV runs lines, the coach tells them they're lagging and that they "break the huddle like A BUNCH OF FRESHMAN!" They start movin a little faster after that.

1:40

- Stanley just came up and asked me about what we're going to be putting on the site. He seemed pretty worried that we might expose some of his formations to opponents. Maybe he thinks we're spies, or maybe he's just paranoid... either way, the players got to execute the plays and if they do it right, they should have no problem making it into the playoffs like they were able to do last year.

- the JV is just lined up the 50-yard line right now as the varsity offense again runs through their hurry-up offense. Stanley directs the players to either spike it if the play remains inbounds, and he has them huddle-up if the play is out of bounds. It's quite a fun drill to watch.

1:29

- I can hear the clattering of metal on the other side of the field as the linemen beat up on the sled.

- After kicking some more PAT's in formation, the varsity is going through some more run-throughs with coach Stanley.

- Now the linebackers appear on the far right side of the field and seem to be working on their footwork under the direction of the assistant coach.

- The WR's are doing a really cool drill where an assistant coach punts the ball in the air, and a WR has to block his opponent while another WR fields the ball, and tries to use his blocker to escape the defender.

1:21

- I just looked over to the far end zone and realized that West Salem is really advanced in the way they look at their practices...They are using a very high-end camcorder to film the offensive run-throughs that they have been doing since we got here. I'm not sure if this is for coaches use, or if it is used as a tool to teach players, but either way I find it pretty sophisticated.

- Coach Stanley runs a pretty tight ship out here. Players definitely have enough water breaks, but when they're out on that field the coach has them constantly working hard.

1:10

- The team has been working on punting/kicking a lot today as well. I'm not sure if they really need practice, or they just want to perfect that part of their team.

- One thing I've noticed since arriving here is that they haven't been running many (if any) defensive drills today. So far, the focus of the Titans practice has been centered on running through plays and honing the players individual abilities through an array of offensive drills.

- I apologize for the brief intermission, but the power ran out on the laptop, and I had to go and put together a procession of extension cords to finally attach power to an area that has a view of the field.

12:52

- Varsity takes a break for water as the JV runs through some plays of their own. I like what I'm seeing out here. With the Titans in full pads it's a much more enjoyable practice to watch as the players can go full speed and I have been able to get a better look at how these kids perform.

- After the brief break in the action, Hire pitches the ball to the right on a toss play, but the tailback stops running and pulls up for a HB pass play. The play is executed beautifully, but the pass is too strong for the receiver to catch up to.

- The run-through stops for a moment while Stanley and some other assistants take time to talk some things over with Hire.

12:40

- The varsity offense just ran a perfectly executed roll-out that was complete for a 12-yard gain.

- WS is the first team we've sen this week that is already going full-pads and full contact.

- The varsity offense is running through plays. Aaron Hire (I think that's how it's spelled) is the man behind center for the Titans, and they have been going through mostly run plays, but they did put the ball in the air a couple of times for quick passes.

12:28

- Coach Stanley is currently working with the quarterbacks on a fumble recovery drill. After being snapped the ball, they bounce it almost like a basketball off the turf and try to recover it as quickly as possible.

- The lineman have now split from the rest of the offense and are running through some basic blocking drills, working on staying in front of their man.

12:15

- The kicker puts a nice looking kick through the uprights, and the team sprints back to the 40 to start the drive again.

- The Titans offense gets near the goal line and coach Stanley is going through the procedure for spiking the ball in pressure situations.

- The QB completes a 15 yard pass to the far sideline, and the receiver gets out of bounds, to the delight of coach Stanley.

- The offensive first team is working on the hurry up offense, starting at the 40 and moving down field.

12:03

- Head coach Shawn Stanley is currently working with the field goal unit, in what appears to be another audition. Players are standing behind the goal posts catching the made kicks and working on their return skills.

- The Titans are running through their special teams drills. An assistant coach is punting footballs to a line of receivers, it appears to be an audition for the punt return spot.

- We just stopped here at West Salem High School, and we're going to get things started. The players are just running through stretches and calisthenics before they actually get into some drills. I'm going to go find coach Stanley, and we'll get some more info in here as soon as possible.